


The Taste of Tea

by TheSassynessThatIsBatman



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Childhood Friends, Childhood Sweethearts, M/M, Reunions
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-04
Updated: 2019-03-04
Packaged: 2019-11-09 06:09:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17996402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSassynessThatIsBatman/pseuds/TheSassynessThatIsBatman
Summary: They met during the Clone Wars. One boy making a name for himself from the shadows, the other yearning for the limelight. They reunite years later, some would call that coincidence. But Toby, in his own language, had a word much more fitting; te'a.





	The Taste of Tea

Boba woke up with a start, sitting up in a bed that wasn’t his. Alone. It took a moment to remember where he was. There movement in the house, Toby and his kid. He got up, and went to pick up his clothes that should have been strewn across the floor from the… night before. Only to find the carpet clean and his clothes folded neatly and placed on a chair in the corner of the room.

Most would have found it a touching gesture, but it disturbed him. Toby climbing out of bed alone should have woken the bounty hunter. Not to mention picking up the clothes and leaving the room. That was it, time to go.

He stepped silently downstairs, just intending on leaving without so much as a tip of his hat. But as he passed the living room, all he saw was a little girl in a school uniform rushing to put on her socks and shoes. Before he could rush past to the back door, she looked up ‘ _Kriff._ _’_

“Um, hello Mister.” Stars, she had his face. Not just his eyes and nose, but his cautious trust.

He was silent for a moment- unsure of how he should proceed with the door right there but Toby nowhere in sight, “… Where is your father?”

“At work,” She sat up off the couch strapping her book bag over her shoulders, “He works on the moisture farm on Primaday’s.”

Boba felt his face tighten. “He leaves you here by yourself?” He knew what that felt like.

“Not always. Are you going to the docks?”

He was not interested in playing a game of questions with this child, “Why do you want to know?”

“Can I walk with you? It’s by my school.” She picked up two small boxes wrapped in patterned fabric, one with green stripes and another half the size wrapped in red stripes, “And I don’t want to deal with Mikey today.”

“I don’t have time to deal with your boyfriend kid-”

“He’s not my boyfriend!” She strode toward him nose screwed up like she had stepped in something nasty, “He’s mean and treats me like his mom treats Daddy.” She huffed, putting the red package down, “But if you don’t wanna walk with me. I’ll go my own.”

Wait, what did this boy’s mother have to do about anything? “I didn’t say you couldn’t walk with me, I said I didn’t want to deal with your boyfriend.”

She scrunched her nose again, but didn’t comment, “Mikey doesn’t bug grown-ups.” She picked up the red package again, “Can we go now?”

They walked in silence for a few minutes, the child walked beside him through the back streets, he observed her out of the corner of his eye. Noting how aware she kept of her surroundings, looking at windows, around corners they passed, even above them- and the expression on her face was too serious to be child curiosity. Time to dig for a little information, there had to be more to Toby than a pretty face.

He started with small questions, insignificant things, “Does your father work a lot?”

“He does the moisture farm during the day, and does the cantina at night.”

“And what do you do?” He realised Toby hadn’t even told him the kids name, “What was your name?”

“Bonnie, and I’m at school, and I’m the librarians assistant- I can take out holobooks for as long as I want.” She said proudly, “What’s your name Mister?”

Toby hadn’t told her about the strange man that spent the night? “Boba.” She didn’t need to know the last name.

“Like boba tea? I didn’t know it was a name too, I like it.”

Okay, one more innocent question before asking about her father again, “What do you have in the boxes?”

“Daddy packs my lunches.”

“That’s a lot of food.”

“I told Daddy my friend doesn’t get lunch, so he packs extra.” That made sense, Toby was too nice for his own good. It also gave him a good segway.

“Does he make Mikey’s momma lunches too?”

“No he doesn’t like her, she gets drunk and tries to make daddy let her sleepover, but he just gives her some water and sends her home.”

He could imagine it, Toby was always stupidly kind. “Waste of water.” Toby’s brain must’ve gotten soft, wasting water on Tatooine was stupid.

“He uses the dirty water from doing dishes. He just fills the bucket up and tips it on her from the upstairs window. She swears a lot.”

That. That nearly had him chuckle, but he retained composer and cracked a smile under his helmet instead.

“He doesn’t… Have people sleep over?”

“Yea,” He frowned, he knew there must have been someone else- why else would he leave this kid alone while he worked? “I have sleepovers with my friend Marnie, and Aunt Tammy visits a lot.” So the kid’s friends and Toby’s sister.

“No one else?”

“No… Daddy doesn’t have a lot of friends. So I’m happy you turned up. Marnie wants to try and get him to fall in love with her momma, but he doesn’t make googly eyes at her like does with you.”

He paused mid-step in surprise before meeting her shorter stride.

“That’s my school,” He looked out across the road from where the street ended, he shoved his disappointment aside. “Here.” She held up the red striped box.

“What’s this?”“Daddy said you probably didn’t want breakfast so he made you a lunchbox too.”

Boba took it intending on throwing it into the next dumpster.

“Bye Mister Boba!” She waved at him, running toward the school’s entrance. He turned around and continued on his way.

He wouldn’t be coming back to this dustball planet. Not without a damn good reason. And Toby was just a distraction, ‘ _A damn good distraction,’_ His mind supplied. He shut that thought down.

He didn’t even know why he bothered asking questions. So what? He hadn’t seen Toby since they were thirteen. Boba didn’t have friends, only allies. But he couldn’t help the small feeling of satisfaction he got when Bonnie said her father didn’t have sleepovers with his own friends. And that’s where the feeling ended. Toby had a kid, worked two jobs, and lived on a crime-ridden planet. The fact there was a school for his kid to go to was impressive. But what about his needs, his dream of being in the spotlight, the best of the galaxies performing artists?

By the time he stepped onto his ship he realized he still had the lunchbox. He sat it int the copilots' seat and got to work. He broke atmosphere shortly after, putting in the coordinates of his next target before switching to autopilot.

Boba again picked up the lunchbox, he stared at it expecting a trap, for the bomb to finally go off. Or maybe it was poison. A lot could change in twenty years. A lot had changed. He got himself comfortable in the ships small bunk and unwrapped the napkin, exposing a steel lunch boxes and a folded piece of durasheet taped to the top.

Boba opted to ignore the note for now and opened the box. Carefully prepared food made that morning, and two paper envelopes of tea. Food that he shouldn’t have, given to him by a family of two, father and child. While he was an outsider welcomed into his home, his bed, like Toby expected more than a one night mistake.

He ate the food. And he brewed the tea. Even after all these years he remembered the taste. His first kiss. Toby stubbornly kissing him through the pain of a busted lip, and Boba himself too stubborn to stop. He rubbed the durasheet between his fingers as he nursed the mug in his other hand. He knew what would happen if he and Toby got involved but-

> _It was good to see you again_ <

It wouldn’t be the last time.


End file.
